ITV News Volcano erupts in south Iceland. Man takes pictures from space on digital camera. A man in West Yorkshire has managed to snap some stunning photos of the Earth from space using a compact Canon digital camera and a hot air balloon kit that cost him just £500. Robert Harrison, of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, constructed his space photography kit using off-the-shelf components that cost him around £500. He mounted a standard, four mega pixel Canon digital camera to a hot air balloon. The camera was hooked up to a small, Linux-based computer that was set to wake up the camera at set intervals and snap a picture. A GPS unit allowed Harrison to recover his camera when the balloon eventually came back to Earth. The resulting photos are so stunning, that NASA has apparently been in touch with Harrison to learn how he managed to capture such high quality images so cheaply. Several galleries of photos can be seen at Harrisons Flickr page, while his blog contains details of his various launches and the hardware used to construct his clever hot air balloon rig.

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